Who "discovered" America?

[andy753]

I started 1st grade in 1980, we were taught Columbus "discovered" America, and we all know that Indians were here before him. And probably aliens before them. Hahaha. Anyways, I remember a few years ago seeing something in the news about schools rephrasing "discovered", because you can't discover a place that's already inhabited. Any teachers reading this thread? How much has changed in grade school education since I was learning? Just curious, my daughter will start kindergarten in about 4 years, I hope I will be able to relate to what she will be taught.

 

[Tank]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMg-79AzbI4&feature=related[/ame]

 

[Grace]

From what I remember, Vikings were the first to "discover" another land...INHABITED by people. So in essence, nothing was discovered any more than Normans discovering England..which was already inhabited by the Saxons.

 

[Luissa]

There is proof there was humans here long before the Vikings and Clovis people on the West Coast.
Marco Polo is even said to have come down the Alaska/Canadian coast line.

 

[Mad Scientist]

America was "discovered" by God who created it. Or for you non-believers, America was "discovered" by the ancient bacteria that first inhabited the land.

I wonder how Bacteria could "plant their flag" on on land they discovered? Hmmm.

 

[editec]

Pretty much everybody rediscovered the Western Hemisphere.

Columbus just gets credit for rediscovering it for European in the 15th century.

 

[elvis]

Amerigo Vespucci.

 

[PoliticalChic]

I started 1st grade in 1980, we were taught Columbus "discovered" America, and we all know that Indians were here before him. And probably aliens before them. Hahaha. Anyways, I remember a few years ago seeing something in the news about schools rephrasing "discovered", because you can't discover a place that's already inhabited. Any teachers reading this thread? How much has changed in grade school education since I was learning? Just curious, my daughter will start kindergarten in about 4 years, I hope I will be able to relate to what she will be taught.

"When Kennewick Man was discovered in July of 1996, no one could have predicted the debate and struggle that his remains would create.

Well Kennewick Man was any thing but typical, the above procedure was followed but the story that unfolded was unexpected, his bones seemed to say that he belonged to no modern Native American group, the projectile point imbedded in his hip bore the shape of a very early type tool known to be a least 6000 years old. And the single radiocarbon date that was taken from a small bone fragment, came back with an age range of 8340 to 9200 years before the present, and this is all we might have ever know about this remarkable person but a group of archaeologists and anthropologist filed a law suite to prevent the return of the remains by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) to the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

The bones of Kennewick Man seem to indicate he was deliberately buried and did not indicate the he was exposed the elements (as would be expected if he had died in a accident or of exposure) and that there is evidence of red ocher (a pigment) staining the bones. He was between 45 to 50 years of age, about 5’9" tall, well muscled, he had two broken ribs which had healed and which may have occurred at the same time projectile point was embedded in his hip, these events appeared to have occurred when he was between 15 to 20 years of age. The physical anthropologist who examined Kennewick Man to determine what population group he bore the most relationship to came to these conclusions " Only the odonometric (features on the teeth) suggest a connection between Kennewick Man and modern American Indians, but the typical probabilities for this analysis were all very low" the had a number of features on the bone not found in modern populations. The features on the skull share more features in common with the south Pacific, Polynesia as well as the Ainu of Japan. And only a sequence of well dated human remains from the region (east-central Washington) can provide direct evidence of biological connections to modern Native American groups in the area. Although there is no evidence of Caucasoid affinities (Caucasoid being defined as people living or having lived in western and south western Eurasia or what is now Europe)."
Conversation for Exploration - The Kennewick Man Controversy - William Glover

 

[Grace]

Interesting reading, PoliticalChic

 

[westwall]

There is also ample evidence of a Celtic colony that exhisted in the east for over 1000 years a 1000 years before Christ.

 

[Mr. Sauerkraut]

Asterix

 

[oxfordcoma]

Columbus was really the last person to "discover" the Americas, but if you are interested in American history, I really found the book, "lies my teacher told me," to be an outstanding book, with great sourcing and well-documented references.

 

[HUGGY]

America was "discovered" by God who created it. Or for you non-believers, America was "discovered" by the ancient bacteria that first inhabited the land.

I wonder how Bacteria could "plant their flag" on on land they discovered? Hmmm.

There was no "America" when life first showed up. Plate tectonics...learn it...love it. The land masses commonly referred to as continents has been changing over time. When life first evolved there was essentially just one big super continent.

 

[Old Rocks]

I started 1st grade in 1980, we were taught Columbus "discovered" America, and we all know that Indians were here before him. And probably aliens before them. Hahaha. Anyways, I remember a few years ago seeing something in the news about schools rephrasing "discovered", because you can't discover a place that's already inhabited. Any teachers reading this thread? How much has changed in grade school education since I was learning? Just curious, my daughter will start kindergarten in about 4 years, I hope I will be able to relate to what she will be taught.

"When Kennewick Man was discovered in July of 1996, no one could have predicted the debate and struggle that his remains would create.

Well Kennewick Man was any thing but typical, the above procedure was followed but the story that unfolded was unexpected, his bones seemed to say that he belonged to no modern Native American group, the projectile point imbedded in his hip bore the shape of a very early type tool known to be a least 6000 years old. And the single radiocarbon date that was taken from a small bone fragment, came back with an age range of 8340 to 9200 years before the present, and this is all we might have ever know about this remarkable person but a group of archaeologists and anthropologist filed a law suite to prevent the return of the remains by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) to the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

The bones of Kennewick Man seem to indicate he was deliberately buried and did not indicate the he was exposed the elements (as would be expected if he had died in a accident or of exposure) and that there is evidence of red ocher (a pigment) staining the bones. He was between 45 to 50 years of age, about 5’9" tall, well muscled, he had two broken ribs which had healed and which may have occurred at the same time projectile point was embedded in his hip, these events appeared to have occurred when he was between 15 to 20 years of age. The physical anthropologist who examined Kennewick Man to determine what population group he bore the most relationship to came to these conclusions " Only the odonometric (features on the teeth) suggest a connection between Kennewick Man and modern American Indians, but the typical probabilities for this analysis were all very low" the had a number of features on the bone not found in modern populations. The features on the skull share more features in common with the south Pacific, Polynesia as well as the Ainu of Japan. And only a sequence of well dated human remains from the region (east-central Washington) can provide direct evidence of biological connections to modern Native American groups in the area. Although there is no evidence of Caucasoid affinities (Caucasoid being defined as people living or having lived in western and south western Eurasia or what is now Europe)."
Conversation for Exploration - The Kennewick Man Controversy - William Glover

There are many evidences of other cultures making contact with and sometimes influencing the native American culture. The closest tools to that of the Clovis are found in Europe. Man was faring on the oceans for many tens of thousands of years before us. Some were ended up where they had no desire to be from storms, and others just kept going.

 

[dalethomas1]

According to my knowledge Christopher Columbus was discovered America.

 

[HUGGY]

According to my knowledge Christopher Columbus was discovered America.

Really? What part of the continent of North or South America did he set foot on?

 

[Robert_Stephens]

I started 1st grade in 1980, we were taught Columbus "discovered" America, and we all know that Indians were here before him. And probably aliens before them. Hahaha. Anyways, I remember a few years ago seeing something in the news about schools rephrasing "discovered", because you can't discover a place that's already inhabited. Any teachers reading this thread? How much has changed in grade school education since I was learning? Just curious, my daughter will start kindergarten in about 4 years, I hope I will be able to relate to what she will be taught.

One of my favorite topics, since this is what I do for a living in part. Ok, actually, when we excavate in the Yucatan and in central Mongolia, we find potsherds in the latter with Mayan and Inca Writing on them, 12,000 years old! Equally down home in the Yucatan we find potsherds and other artifacts with Chinese writing on them from 11,200 years ago.

Very current thinking is that that long ago, both cultures were sailing with confidence across the Big Lake (The Pacific Ocean) and engaged in trading with each other.

An astounding clue: Notices that ALL Latino people and others and ALL Indians, have slanted eyes........

This is and has been so compelling.

On this topic, if interested, please read the book, and this we use in the field now, "1491", by Charles C. Mann. A real eye opener in every way. It was on the NY Times Bestseller list for over a year.

"1491" by Charles C. Mann

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/140004006X]Amazon.com: 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (9781400040063): Charles C. Mann: Books[/ame]



Robert

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

http://www.islamicity.com/articles/articles.asp?ref=IC0301-1843